Commercial Property
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Realtor Has Mixed Feelings About Third Degree From Buyer
Hank Morris (not his real name) wanted a good agent when he and his wife transferred to Denver, so he went to Realtor.com to find one. After perusing the Realty Times" Market Conditions Reports, Morris decided to interview Judith Clausen. Clausen thought it was more of a grilling. "I felt like I was being given the third degree," says Clausen. "By the time the prospect and I met, I was ready to fire him. Because I wanted his business, I answered all his questions, but it kept me up "til midnight answering all his questions." And that didn"t include the additional questions Hank had for Clausen after this email exchange - their third or fourth after a couple of phone calls. Hank writes: "There are some other questions that I"d like to ask you and hope you won"t mind answering them. Those responses will help me make my decision. Here goes: (Clausen"s responses are in italics.) Are you a member of the National Association of Realtors? Yes Are you an Accredited Buyer Representative? What other special qualifications do you have? I"m an EBA, Exclusive Buyer"s Agent. I"m also one of 1% of all American REALTORS accredited by the National Association of REALTORS as an e-Pro, a designation that uniquely qualifies me to serve the e-powered consumer. Through email, faxes, and telephone calls the entire transaction can be done without you having to be here. You can elect either to be at closing or to have me serve as your Power of Attorney for real estate for the purpose of representing you at closing. Do you have an assistant? Yes, I have a Virtual Assistant How long have you been in the business of representing buyers in the Denver area? 8 years, check out my license at the bottom of my website I note that your license, issued by the Colorado Division of Real Estate, is active. Have you ever been sanctioned by that agency? If so, why? No What difficult situations have you faced in the Denver market and how have you resolved them? The most difficult is in holding new house builders" feet to the fire on behalf of my clients. In one transaction during the homebuyer"s orientation walk-through the builder refused to change a drain situation my inspector uncovered. I put my inspector on the phone with the builder in the presence of my clients, and he was able to cut through the B.S. and get them to do the right thing. Another episode with a builder was when a client of mine felt that they were treating him unfairly. I accompanied him and his lawyer to visit the builder and hold their feet to the fire. We were able to get them to award him money damages without a lawsuit. How many buyers did you work with in the past year? How many of those buyers purchased a home with your help? 12 and they all bought from me What is your view of the Denver housing market conditions? Go to my website, click on my newsletter, and on the right hand side toward the bottom you"ll see a box labeled "Current Market Conditions." You"ll find my most recent assessment there. What is your experience in assisting buyers find and purchase a new or near-new home in the Denver area? Talk to the clients I"ve represented. I find the best home for the best price with the least amount of hassle for the buyer. I prefer to use a home inspector and radon tester of my own choosing as opposed to one recommended by a realtor. Are you comfortable with that preference? No I"m not. I do not get a rebate of any kind from any of the professionals I recommend. You are free to choose who you wish, but I will ask you to sign a release saying that you chose your own inspector (and lender). I represent your best interests and have a fiduciary responsibility to you. That includes recommending the very highest quality professionals. I know many REALTORS don"t require this, and some will even say it"s bad policy. But my experience is that buyers simply don"t have the experience to choose the professionals it takes to successfully complete a complex real estate transaction Our purchase agreements are 8-10 pages long, and is one of the largest financial investments of a lifetime. I represent buyers every day. If you hire me I will ask that you trust my judgment. I don"t want you to suspend your own, but in matters where you want a professional advising you, you"ll get my best advice. As a Buyer"s Agent, that"s my commitment to you. My clients will tell you that they"re glad they trusted my advice. I"m your advocate, and your satisfaction is my best reward. And we"ll have a contract that specifies what I"ll do and what I expect of you. Will you notify me of the contents of a completed seller"s disclosure form upon your receipt of it and promptly provide me with a copy, so that I can consider those disclosures before deciding to have the home inspected? That"s the law in Colorado. Sellers are required to provide you with a disclosure, which, by the way, doesn"t really mean much, because they only disclose what they know to be wrong, and then only if they"re honest about it. Many sellers lie about the condition of their home. That"s why you have a clause in our contract permitting you to have an inspection, and if you don"t like what you see, and the seller doesn"t resolve it to your satisfaction, you get to back out of the contract. Of course, you don"t want to have to do that having come that far. So I do my utmost to make sure that our inspection is top drawer. Can I count on you to understand that my wife and I do not want to purchase a home that will require any significant expenditures to correct the current owner"s maintenance or repair issues and that we are not willing to purchase any home that poses a safety risk to our us, our little girl, or our unborn child? Totally understood. Can I count on you to understand that we will not agree to sharing the cost of fixing any problem with a home? As we did not own the home when the problem arose, we see no reason to pay to fix it. For example, if a home has a radon contamination problem that is near or above the EPA maximum, we are not willing to share in the cost of sealing off the entry points for the gas and installing a mitigation system. This is only an example; the same would be true if the house had, for example, a leaky or nearly-worn out roof, a faulty furnace (or one near the end of its useful life), etc. We can ask the seller to pay for anything you ask. However, you must realize that they may not agree to what you ask. That"s beyond my ability to guarantee. Can I count on you to adhere to my requests applicable to opening offers, responses to counter-offers and the like? I will, of course, consider your advice on those matters before providing that direction but do not want to feel that I am being asked to offer a particular price, or accept a particular counter-offer, because of considerations relating to the commission my agent stands to earn if the sale closes. That"s why you want a reputable agent representing you. I do not EVER consider my own interests in serving my clients" needs. Because my wife and I have not lived in the Denver area before, can we count on you to show us houses in neighborhoods, communities, and cities that meet our specific desires, offer homes that stand a good chance of appreciating over time, are safe, and have high-quality schools? Unfortunately federal Fair Housing Laws do not permit me or any agent to discuss with our clients the safety of any neighborhood. I will point you to the local police department and ask you to do your own research. Same with schools. We cannot steer clients away from any neighborhood. I have an obligation to serve you, but only within what the law allows. Can we count on you to screen the houses you think might fit our criteria so that my house-hunting time in the Denver area is most efficiently invested? I can only do so much screening. I have sent you a number of homes, and I expect a cooperative relationship where you rule out homes you have no interest in prior to telling me which ones you do have an interest in. I will use my professional expertise to show you a limited number of houses while you"re here. However, please understand that every client is different. I had clients once who saw 60 houses in a weekend, which was certainly not my preference, it was theirs. If you only want to see 1 house a day, that"s your preference. But you select the houses. I just provide you with what"s available. The exchange continued with Hank sharing facts about his financial situation and what kind of loan he wants, a meticulous list of preferences in a home, and his family. "We have a little girl (18 months) and another child on the way as well as two Labrador Retrievers and an elderly cat," wrote Hank. He then provides Clausen with his wish list: "Here are specific things we are looking for and/or will be considering: Our current townhouse is 1368 square feet. We would like to purchase a home that is at least a little bit bigger, say about 1500 square feet minimum, if possible. The house needs to have at least two bathrooms. The house needs to have a two-car garage. It would be nice if there were a service door leading from the back or side of the garage to the outdoors, as well as a window in the garage. We would prefer to avoid a corner lot and any lot that has a view of any busy arterial, highway, or other street that has a high volume of traffic and noise. We would rather not buy a house located on a busy street and would prefer to have the minimum feasible highway noise. We will not buy a house located next to or close to an apartment complex, mobile home/manufactured home park, industrial area, airport, landfill, or hazardous waste-contaminated area. Since I can"t possibly know everything about every house in the area, these are things that will reveal themselves as we look. If we pull up to a house for which we have an appointment and it"s next to an apartment building, we"ll drive on without looking. Mature vegetation is stronglyPages: [1] 2 3